Hello,

I just tried the Geolink again today. I am having a problem with Return to Home.Return to home makes the helicopter fly in weird directions sometimes even opposite of home location. I tried re calibrating the Geolink, but it didn't fix the issue. The Return to Home function is very unreliable and could be dangerous as the helicopter goes wherever it wants when I activate it. Return to home will really make me just lose the helicopter if I keep it on too long.

I tried position hold. When I tried it, the helicopter will also have the same problem and go wherever it wants. It is quite the opposite of position hold.


I also set my hard deck to 3m. Sometimes it activates at 3m, but other times, it will activate at around 9m or higher. It makes it hard to judge when the helicopter will rescue. Several times it activated rescue when I was up high and didn't need it and it and confused me. I think there is a problem with my Geolink or Spirit FBL. I just checked the logs today and it shows data not available in all the log entries.


Weirdly, the Geolink is showing the right location. When I got back to my house, I looked at the map and my home location was around exactly where I set it. The current location shown on the map when I was at my house was exactly where the helicopter was. The Geolink was showing very accurate data on the maps. Also, there were 12 satellites and the Geolink even showed 12 satellites indoors. It seems like something is seriously wrong. I am on the latest version for both Spirit and Geolink. Please tell me if any of you have these problems.

The Spirit FBL has been great as the rescue function is very reliable. My only problem is the Geolink. I hope you can get this fixed for me. I saw many people have great success with the Geolink and I want to get that success as well. I really like Spirit and the customer service. I know you will be able to help advise me on how to fix the problem. I uploaded my logs for the Spirit for you to see.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello,

thank you for the details.

From description it look like there is serious problem between Spirit and GeoLink communication.
Unfortunately from Spirit flight log I can't read any usefull data.

The best could be to just perform one more flight and if possible, to connect a Smartphone or PC immediately after the flight to view the log (without disconnecting battery). Or at least to perform another flight and view the log. Hopefully there will be something more useful.

If for example 90% of the data are invalid then the Spirit is not receiving nearly anything usable. For this reason it could behave seemingly chaotic as the data it has could be just "outdated". So the model could be already in a very different position.

The safest to try is the Position Hold feature. If position is held spot on (while sticks are centered) then it should be all OK.

From our experience the problem could arise when:
- GeoLink cable was modified
- GeoLink cable is way too long.
- There are magnets near the GeoLink - for example from canopy holders or in the tail servo.

If you performed the Compass calibration at home it could be good to try Calibration at the flying field or near it. Not in a building.

So the first thing to verify is the cable. Is it original cable provided with the GeoLink?

It rather look like the connection issue than calibration since also Altitude Limit does not work properly.

_________________
Spirit System developer

Hello, I will follow the subject, I have the same problems.
Cdlt

Bonjour, je vais suivre le sujet, j'ai les meme problèmes.
Cdlt

Thanks for the prompt reply!

I used the cable that came with the Geolink from the Geolink box. I don't have any other cable and I have not modified the cable in any way. I just received the Geolink last week and had this problem from the beginning. There are no magnetic canopy mounts either. The geolink is mounted at least 6 cm from the tail servo and way farther from everything else. I think I will put up a picture of how my Geolink is mounted. Maybe that will help you. Still, I don't know why it would act like this. I will try to get in another flight maybe today if I can. Hopefully, I can get more data.

The funny thing is Geolink shows the exact and correct location on the map and it shows the exact home location. I don't know why it would be directing the helicopter the wrong way if it knows the right location and even shows it correctly on the map.

Anyway, I will try another flight if I can today and see if I can get more useful information from the logs. Thanks!

I have the same problem as well and the return to home does not work and no logs



And the spirit logs, it’s a 230S with a electric motor fur the rudder




Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

Hello,

GeoLink is working as a dedicated unit. It only receive command from Spirit unit to start logging when flight begins.
But once logging started then everything is logged in the GeoLink memory.

But if there is a problem with connection between Spirit and GeoLink then:
a) GeoLink will not start logging at all
b) GeoLink features will work with very bad performance

The problem is we don't know why there is a problem with connection yet, but it all points that the problem is really there.
But with version 2.5.2 + GeoLink 1.0.2 the flight log should contain messages about it. At the screenshot I can't see any problem.

Could you share your settings file, please? Also I will need all possible information about the model. This can help a lot.

You do not have to take a photo of the log, you can attach whole PDF file here.

_________________
Spirit System developer

I didn't get to fly again today, but I took some pictures of the way I mounted the Geolink. Here is the pictures. I think I mounted it correctly. Please check it out. Thanks!

Thank you. Your mounting is looking good.
Could you also provide other details about the model (ESC, BEC voltage) + 4ds settings file.

We have developed new firmware and software for checking one possible reason for the problem.
It is identical to official 2.5.2 but it has check test whether the unit is running from Backup oscillator or External oscillator.
Backup oscillator is less precise and could cause the problem theoretically. Normally all units are using External oscillator. But in case of malfunction backup is used so that basically nothing changes for pilot.

If backup is used, you will see it as the first event in the Spirit flight log.

You will just need to flash this firmware:
http://spirit-system.com/dl/fw/spirit-fw-2.5.10.4df

and use this software:
http://spirit-system.com/dl/settings/sp ... -win32.exe

This will help us to investigate the issue a lot and then find a solution.

_________________
Spirit System developer

I got to fly today. I did another calibration of the Geolink in the field where there was only grass and no metal objects. The calibration went successfully like normal. I then unplugged the battery, then plugged it back in and flew the helicopter. The helicopter flew fine, but when I activated position hold, the helicopter just went in whatever random direction it wanted. It didn't hold position at all. Altitude limit was also kind of unpredictable sometimes activating too high and sometimes activating almost too low. The new firmware didn't fix any of the problems. The good thing is I got two logs you can look at which might help you in solving the problem. Please see the attached logs. I saw there were a lot of Geolink data corrupted entries. The logs seem to show something is seriously wrong. Please help me. Thanks!

Thank you for the logs.

Could you also share your settings file, please? Is the BEC configured to 5 - 6V? Or is it higher?

From the flight log it is really looking bad from 13th minute. Do you remember if the model was still in the air?
It is quite long run.

First we have to check the basic settings.
1. When moving with the sticks all bars should correspond with direction you are moving in the Diagnostic tab. This mean when you move with collective pitch up the bar goes up (100%, not -100%). When moving elevator stick to front the bar should go up. Is it correct? So it is important that Aileron, Elevator, Pitch and Rudder channels are moving well.
2. Is GeoLink mounting option configured correctly? In your case it should be Horizontal (0°), right?
If no, then all corrections will be opposite so it will look like a random.

When GeoLink data are corrupted event occur it should be there maximally 1 time per minute, but if there are multiple messages in row then it mean that it really can't work correctly.

Did you checked if Compass is showing correct angle - in comparison to at least any other compass?
Because if it will show wrong heading then it is not worth to do more tests.
If you know where is north then it should display around 90° at the GeoLink window.

If we will not find a configuration problem then we could:
a) Send you other Spirit unit
b) Send you other GeoLink
c) Send you GeoLink holder so that it is futher from the boom.

There is also other simple test that you can do to verify if it is working well.

You can program RTH position to your field and then activate RTH while you are holding the model at approximately horizontal position.
If you will go further from the programmed point the swashplate should be clearly tilted always to the side where it should fly (however the model is rotated in yaw axis).
This must simply work so you will be able to see what model would actually do in the flight. Just make sure that it is not tilted when doing this test.
This is the most safe test that can tell us if it is working correctly.

Ideally if you are at least 30 meters from the programmed point to see where the swashplate is tilted.

_________________
Spirit System developer